Orbital.
The 2008 UK Eastercon at
Heathrow seemed highly successful, with guests of honour Neil Gaiman,
Tanith Lee, China Miéville, Rog Peyton (fan) and Charles Stross
all on excellent form. Total membership was estimated as 1,300-odd
actually attending. The event returns to the same Heathrow hotel, the
Radisson Edwardian, as Odyssey
2010 on 2-5 April 2010: guests are Alastair Reynolds, Liz
Williams, Mike Carey, and Fran & John Dowd (fan).
 BSFA Awards went to Ian McDonald for Brasyl
(novel), Ken MacLeod for 'Lighting Out' in disLocations (short),
Andy Bigwood for the disLocations cover 'Cracked World' (art),
and Brian Aldiss for Non-Stop (1958 anniversary award). Also
Peter Mabey received a life membership as the longest-established BSFA
member still paying his annual sub.
 Doc Weir Award for unsung heroes: Eddie Cochrane.
 There were lots of good programme items that I deafly missed.
Rare negative comments concerned access difficulties (narrow stairways
that couldn't handle crowds) and erratic air conditioning (bake in the
dealer's room or freeze in the real ale bar); the latter should be fixed
by 2010. Alarmingly, my overflow hotel – the Renaissance – proved to
be a rebranding of the old Heathrow Hotel where 30 years ago I and
others ran the first airport Eastercon,
Skycon '78.

M.
John Harrison won the Philip K. Dick Award for Nova Swing;
Minister Faust's From The Notebooks Of Dr. Brain had a special
citation.

Larry
Niven, as any fan might expect, is in the Sigma sf writers'
think tank which offers 'unconventional thinking' at US Homeland
Security science/technology conferences. In March,
National
Defense magazine gave unenthusiastic – some say slanted – coverage to a recent Sigma panel's 'rambling, sometimes strident string
of ideas [...] Niven said a good way to help hospitals stem financial
losses is to spread rumors in Spanish within the Latino community that
emergency rooms are killing patients in order to harvest their organs
for transplants.' Niven: 'The problem [of hospitals going broke]
is hugely exaggerated by illegal aliens who aren't going to pay for
anything anyway.' Jerry Pournelle: 'Do you know how politically
incorrect you are?' Niven: 'I know it may not be possible to use
this solution, but it does work.' ND also claimed that, rather
than answer audience questions, panellists 'used their time to
pontificate on a variety of tangentially related topics, including their
past roles advising the government, predictions in their stories that
have come to pass, the demise of the paperback book market, and low-cost
launch into space.' [NH] That sounds familiar.

Terry
Pratchett's donation of
a
million dollars for Alzheimer's research ('Personally, I'd eat the
arse out of a dead mole if it offered a fighting chance.') was very
widely reported. The fevered brain of Pat Cadigan perceived that this
could be equalled if half a million fans each gave a pound to the same
cause, a campaign very soon named 'Match It For Pratchett' – with its
own website at www.matchitforpratchett.org.
Over £2,500 was raised at Orbital, and donations to the Alzheimer's
Research Trust in honour of Terry approached £41,000 by 25 March.

As
Others Research Us. 'I've always been a fan of H.G. Wells, the
19th/20th century British sci-fi author. You know, he's the guy who
penned such classics as "The War of the Worlds," "The
Time Machine" and my personal favorite, "1984."' (Greg
Bucci, city editor, Mohave Valley Daily News, 13 March) [MRL]

Apocwyphal?Elderly Lady at Waterstone's: 'I'm looking for something for my
grandson; he's 16 and not really into reading, though he likes
Pratchett. What might you recommend?' Waterstone's Person: 'Has
he tried Rankin?' EL: 'Yes, I suppose that would keep him quiet,
but I was really wanting to get him a book.' (Bent's Notes, The
Bookseller)

Arthur
C. Clarke Award shortlist: Matthew de Abaitua, The Red Men;
Stephen Baxter, The H-Bomb Girl; Sarah Hall, The Carhullan
Army; Steven Hall, The Raw Shark Texts; Ken MacLeod, The
Execution Channel; Richard Morgan, Black Man.
 As usual, there was some fuss about the jury's choices.
Administrator Tom Hunter writes: 'In an SF Crowsnest interview I said: "In
many ways the Award isn't so much about picking the 'best' book of the
year (although we are still very good at that too) and is more about
pushing at the edges of our genre." While this was part of a
broader point about the many different ways in which the Award is viewed
by the sf community and beyond, it's clear to me now that such comments
can easily be read as suggesting there's an agenda behind the selection
process, which is not and never has been the case. The Clarke Award is
known for the high level of passionate debate it can inspire, but I
apologise for any confusion and concern I have unintentionally provoked
while promoting the Award this year.'

Publishers
and Sinners. A Games Workshop mole reports sweeping cuts in
their publishing arm after a poor Christmas for games sales. Marc
Gascoigne, founder of the imprints Solaris (sf/fantasy) and Black
Library (game ties), is now on 'gardening leave' with redundancy
expected to follow. BL seems safe but the future of Solaris is less
certain.

R.I.P.Jane Blackstock (1947-2008), late of Gollancz, died of cancer on
3 March – two days after her 61st birthday. Jo Fletcher writes: 'Jane,
formerly Gollancz's formidable rights director, took on the role of
publisher when Liz Knights died; she was at the helm when Gollancz was
bought by Orion, but chose not to remain with the company.'
 Ray Bradbury (1950-2008), UK fan and long-time stalwart
of the Birmingham SF Group, died on 17 March – about a week before his
58th birthday. He was a skilled conjuror and member of the Magic Circle
whose occasional performances in fandom were much appreciated. [PW]
 Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008), UK-born sf and science
author who for decades had been genuinely world-famous, died in Sri
Lanka on 18 March: he was 90. Several examples of his sf, notably The
City and the Stars from 1956, still evoke that old sense of wonder
for the most jaded fans. It goes without saying that tributes appeared
in countless major newspapers and on-line platforms; my own more or less
formal piece will be in SFX. Despite colossal fame, Sir Arthur
didn't forget his early roots as 'Ego' Clarke in 1940s/1950s British
fandom. When Ansible's most infamous department quoted him in
2002, he replied with delight: 'Now I can die happy – finally made it
to MASTERCLASS!' Overhead, without any fuss ...
 Dr Christine Haycock, widow of Sam Moskowitz and an
active fan in her own right, died on 23 January aged 84. [AIP]
 Raymond Leblanc (1915-2008), Belgian comics publisher
whose co-founded Editions du Lombard produced the famous Tintin
magazine (1945-1988), died on 21 March aged 92. [JW]
 Anthony Minghella (1954-2008), UK scriptwriter and
director who wrote and directed the ghost story Truly, Madly, Deeply
(1990), died unexpectedly on 18 March. He was 54. [JJ]
 Jody Scott (1923-2007), UK-born sf author who wrote Passing
For Human (1977) and I, Vampire (1984), died on 24 December
last year; she was 84.
 Dave Stevens (1955-2008), US cartoonist and comics
writer/artist who created The Rocketeer (filmed by Disney in 1991), died
from leukaemia on 10 March. He was 52. [JG]

As
Others Mourn Us. Simon Drake (who he?) shares his feelings on
the Times website: 'Arthur C. Clarke is dead. Farewell. Etc. So
are we going to be hammered by publishers re-issuing all his well known
titles and a few more that you should also get to know? Is it possible
that a young writer, living in the "now" (ACC's "future"
for when he was writing) could be coming up with fantastic visions that
equal ACC and isn't it only fair for the young writer to be on the
market as well? I see his death as a good thing. Get the great ACC
resurgence over and done with and then SF Writers can get back to
spreading great ideas into a rapidly changing world. I give credit to
ACC, I even put his Three Laws of Robotics into the preface of my book
Love Data, but it's time for a new generation to get into the public
eye.' [20 March] Poor dear.

Magazine
Scene.Scheherezade, after an 18-year run, published
its last issue at Eastercon: editor Liz Counihan wants more time for her
own writing, although 'My sister and Art Editor, Deirdre, hopes that
when she has time she'll be able to revive the magazine.'
 Wendy Bradley corrects
A247: Farthing
is on hold entirely for financial reasons (Wendy needs £3,000 to
publish the next issue and pay its authors) and no personal health
problems were involved. Your editor grovels.

Outraged
Letters.Darren Nash of Orbit unwisely talked to The
Times about Arthur C. Clarke: 'This was distilled into the comment
piece you see in today's Times [20 March]. It's not how I would
have chosen to write it – apart from the last two paragraphs, which are
taken from my Orbit blog piece, they're not my words – but it seemed
harmless enough, so I signed off on it. / Imagine my fury, this morning,
when I opened the paper to see the headline that dominated the page
where "my" commentary piece appeared. I would like to state,
for the record, that had I had the tiniest inkling that there was an
agenda to rehash the vile rumours spawned by that gutter-dwelling piece
of bog paper, the Sunday Mirror, not only would I have refused
to speak to anyone from The Times, but I'd have cordially
invited them to go forth and multiply. I'm relieved, at least, that "my"
words didn't appear in the same article – I can only imagine how livid
Terry Pratchett must be feeling right now – but I'm no less angry. I
don't want my name on the same continent as an article that revisits
that pernicious – and obviously politically motivated – smear
campaign, let alone on the same page. [...] Arthur C. Clarke was one of
my heroes. I grew up reading his novels, short stories and non-fiction
and it is that work that is directly responsible for me being where I am
today – and in many ways, who I am today. You only need to read my
piece on the Orbit website to see the high regard in which I held Sir
Arthur. / I want to dissociate myself completely from that article in
The Times, now joining the black list of newspapers I will never
buy again. I shouldn't have expected any better from a Newscorp
publication, but somehow I did. More fool me.' (Jack Malvern's Times
article 'Arthur C. Clarke's honour delayed by sex claims' devoted its
first seven paragraphs to the never-substantiated 1998 allegations,
before finding space for lesser matters like 2001, satellites
and the tributes from Terry Pratchett and Patrick Moore.)

Random
Fandom.Bruce Gillespie is madly pleased to have won
this year's Peter McNamara Award for life achievement in Australian sf.
 Marcia Illingworth writes: 'Faldo, Tony (blindpew)
Smith's first Guide Dog, passed away on 3/03 at 7:20PM, with my arms
around him and Tim by our sides.'
 Rob Jackson hauled a load of prozines to Eastercon for
the unknown fan who won them at the 2007 LFF auction, but they still
weren't claimed. Unknown fan, please note that Rob will pay shipping
costs: contact jacksonshambrook at tiscali co uk.
 Jonathan Palfrey on the vast A248 obituary list:
'It's a pity you feel obliged to kill so many people every time, but I
suppose The Duty has to be done. Have you ever thought of delegating the
job to your granddaughter?'

Guesting.Brian Aldiss: 'Just back from a rousing time in Florida, where I
attended the 29th year of the IAFA.... Also, I was in Tampa at the South
Florida University, where a learned choir of guys sang my praises.
Everyone enjoyed that – particularly me. Now I'm home and full of
energy. I'm thinking of having a second pace-maker fitted.'
 Simon R. Green had to drop out as World Horror
Convention MC owing to the agony of (a) trapped nerves and (b) side
effects of medication for (a).

A248
Update.'Roger
Von Bergendorff' is elusive as an sf artist, but ISFDB and Locus
list covers for several Gregory Benford and other sf titles 1986-1993,
as by Roger Bergendorff or Bergendorf. [WL/JS]

Thog's
Masterclass.Eyeballs in the Sky. 'Her eyes seemed to
come back from somewhere else ...' (Timothy Zahn, The Backlash
Mission, 1986) [IC]
 Teleology Dept. 'In the dawn of time, Man, the monad,
was encased in stone. He had to struggle through into vegetable life,
then, by acquiring locomotion from plant to animal, from medusa to
holothurisan; thence to work his way out of the primeval waters, develop
wings and limbs – ' (Clive Trent [Victor Rousseau], 'Human Pyramid',
Spicy-Adventure Stories, April 1941) [DL]

Editorial
Oddments. Juicy stories like the National Defense
panel report often reach me from multiple Ansible readers: I'm
grateful to you all but tend to credit only the first sender, unless
different communications provide different angles on the story. 
It occurs to me that the Ansible links page at
links.ansible.co.uk is more
interesting and much more frequently updated than the nominal home page
at news.ansible.co.uk ... do
you think it would be better for news.ansible.co.uk to go straight to
the links page?  Once again I'm slightly boggled that the much
deplored (though not by me) streak of Langford Hugo nominations
continues. What can I say but thanks very much? I have always depended
on the kindness of voters.  Lastly, an unexciting new experiment:
the website version of this issue includes permalinks to each item and
headline. This is all because of the great Cory Doctorow.  Despite
the date I forgot to include any April Foolery. Or is the previous
sentence in fact a subtle leg-pull? I forget that too.

Thog's
Werewolf Supplement. Since Thog gets short shrift above, here
are some extras from a recently quoted masterwork: 'I forgot to mention
that werewolves are very strong. Their diet includes such things as
animal blood, ailing grandmothers and rancid chicken fat.'  'Being
a werewolf is strictly against the law in most countries because they
can be cruel and inhuman.'  '"Yes," Waldo answered, "it's
one of the duties of a werewolf. I must frighten people."' (all
Arthur N. Scarm, The Werewolf vs Vampire Woman, 1972) [BA]